THE SELF FROM VARIOUS

PERSPECTIVES
THE SELF IN EASTER AND WESTERN THOUGHTS
 • Who a person is, including the qualities such as
SELF personality and ability that make one person
different from another
 SELF IN
EASTERN
THOUGHT
Collectivist
Culture
 • In Confucian thought, the ultimate purpose
of life is self-realization
• The chun-tzu (man of virtue or noble
character; commonly translated as
“gentleman” or “superior man”) is, above all,
a man of self-cultivation.
• Among the virtues essential for self-
SELF cultivation are li (propriety) and cheng
CONFUCIANISM (sincerity). The former refers to
prescriptive rules for proper conduct; the
latter to unwavering devotion to the good.
• The self in Confucianism is a subdued self.
• It is conditioned to respond to perceptions,
not of its own needs and aspirations, but of
social requirements and obligations.
 • Taoists disdain the Confucian afinity to social
convention, hierarchical organization, and
governmental rule by the scholar class.
• To them, the good life is the simple life,
spontaneous, in harmony with nature,
unencumbered by societal regulation, and
free from the desire to achieve social
SELF ascendancy - in short, a life lived in
accordance with the Tao.
TAOISM
• Taoists are champions of individuality and
individual freedom
• Unlike Confucianism, Taoism does not regard
the self as an extension of, and defined by,
social relationships. Rather, the self is but one
of the countless manifestations of the Tao.
• Centers on selflessness
 • at the heart of Buddhism is the
metaphysical position that denies
the ontological reality of the self.
• to speak of the self in Buddhism is a
contradiction in itself.
SELF • Any construction of the self, including
BUDDHISM that of the true self in Hinduism, is
rejected.
• From this doctrine of no-self (or no-
soul), it follows that the notion of
“owning” one’s self is nothing but an
illusion.
 SELF IN
WESTERN
THOUGHT
Individualistic
Culture
 • Focus on the individual and self development

SELF •
•
Competitive
Straightforward and Forceful in communication
WESTERN • Values equality